Izzat Ibrahim al Douri, the most wanted member of Saddam Hussein's regime and insurgent leader, narrowly escaped a raid on his hideout in the northern city of Tikrit on Friday. Al Douri was organizing meetings with the local insurgency, the Malaysia Sun reported. Police found computers and documentation with important information on the insurgency and al Qaeda.

Police and local security forces from the Tikrit Awakening Council surrounded al Douri's hideout in the village of Al Sada Al Naeem on Thursday after receiving "confirmed intelligence," Abdullah Hussein Jabara, the deputy governor of Salahadin province, told Voices of Iraq. "The forces did not find al-Douri, but seized documents with information on the al-Qaeda network and other militias, their activities and the techniques used to conduct their operations in northern Iraq," Jabara said. "The documents also referred to the groups' objectives which involved attacking Iraqi military and police forces, but contained no reference to U.S. troops."

Al Douri "managed to evade capture by hiding in a secret space," the Malaysia Sun reported. Police "later pursued a car in which al-Douri was believed to have been traveling, but the driver managed to escape," Voices of Iraq reported. "They later found the car abandoned, but containing a computer with important information, small arms and other equipment," a source told the news agency.

Baghdad in 2000: "A woman known as Um Haydar was beheaded reportedly without charge or trial at the end of December 2000. She was 25 years' old and married with three children. Her husband was sought by the security authorities reportedly because of his involvement in Islamist armed activities against the state. He managed to flee the country. Men belonging to Feda'iyye Saddam came to the house in al-Karrada district and found his wife, children and his mother. Um Haydar was taken to the street and two men held her by the arms and a third pulled her head from behind and beheaded her in front of the residents. The beheading was also witnessed by members of the Ba'ath Party in the area. The security men took the body and the head in a plastic bag, and took away the children and the mother-in-law. The body of Um Haydar was later buried in al-Najaf. The fate of the children and the mother-in-law remains unknown."